Norway’s selector today stated that the Haaland-Christian duel Ronaldo “will be very good for football” and pushed away any kind of change in how to play from his team in front of Portugal, in the League of Nations.
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26/09/2026
by
Lusa
“ Nthe game with Wales, you can see that Portugal has acted differently because of the new selector. He used players in different positions. But Portugal has good players in every position. We know it's going to be a game played, but we're not going to change our way of acting at all. There is no reason for this,” Stale Solbakken said.
The 58-year-old technician spoke to journalists at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo at a press conference forecasting the meeting of the second day of the A4 Group which turned out to be quite quick, mainly because of Haaland and the news that gives Manchester City as guilty of 114 accusations concerning the violation of the Premier League's financial regulations.
Haaland had initially been the player chosen by the Norwegian federation to speak to the press before the Sunday match, and was later replaced by Fredrik Aursnes and Andreas Schjelderup, both Benfica players.
The Norwegian press has consistently addressed the situation of Haaland in City, but Solbakken has always chosen to protect the 26-year advance.
“ He is calm, will play and will be holder ", stressed.
Norway's picker since 2021, the former average explained that his team is now viewed differently, after the campaign at World War 2026, in which he reached the quarterfinals, and addressed the first ever duel between Haaland and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“ One's in the middle of a career, the other's in the end, probably. You never know with Cristiano Ronaldo. They are two superstars and will be very good for fans and for the world of football ", concluded.
In the first round of the League of Nations, in the match that marked the debut of Jorge Jesus, Portugal won at the José Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon, Wales, by 1-0, with a goal by João Félix.
Norway has already received and beaten Denmark, for 3-2, with a Haaland ‘bis’ and with the participation of the Benfiquists Aursnes (titler) and Schjelderup (suplente used).
This means that the two nations will fight for first place in the Ullevaal Stadium, an enclosure with a capacity for 28,000 spectators and that Norway carries a record of three years without defeats in the last eight official matches played.
Norway-Portugal is scheduled for Sunday's 20:45 p.m. (19:45 from Lisbon) and will have arbitration by Frenchman François Letexier.